Boswell joined the Valiants in the summer of 1972 and went on to make 95 appearances for the club before he was given a free transfer at the end of the 1973/74 season.

He had got his break in the Football League with Walsall and went on to play 222 league games for Shrewsbury before spells at Wolves and Bolton preceded his time at Vale.

The Shrews have revealed the sad news of his death.

Ray Williams was his team mate at Port Vale during his two years at Vale Park.

Ray, who is these days a match-day summariser at Vale games for BBC Radio Stoke, remembers Boswell fondly.

Former Port Vale forward Ray Williams

He told The Sentinel: “Bossie’ was a real no-nonsense character, you didn’t cross him.

“Gordon Lee brought him in from Bolton because he felt we needed experience in that area and he did ok for us in those years when we were quite successful.

“When he played for the Vale he was running a newspaper shop in Shrewsbury, so Gordon Lee allowed him to come in half an hour late for training. We would all be saying ‘Where’s Bossie!’ when we started training.

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“He drove a two-tone cream and light blue car – which was the dirtiest car I had ever seen. One day the apprentices cleaned it for him while he was training, thinking they were doing him a favour. But it turned out the dirt was disguising all the rust. Bossie went mad when he came out and saw it!”

“He was actually ahead of his time, because I remember him doing something we had never seen a keeper do before. He would throw the ball outside the penalty area and then kick it off the floor.

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“All keepers do it now because of the rules limiting how long they can hold on to the ball for. But back then we had never seen it before. In fact I think he was the first keeper to ever do it. It seemed so odd at the time, but everyone backed off when the keeper got the ball so he could throw it a good ten yards outside his area before he kicked it.”

Port Vale supporter and author Phil Sherwin said: “He was a decent keeper for us. In later years we signed his son Matthew who was also a keeper, although he didn’t play for the first team.

“I actually saw Alan at a game last season, watching us from the Railway Stand. I will also remember him as a player who managed to get changed in a taxi.

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“In December 1972 Vale were at Charlton so went by train to Euston, but the transport they had arranged to the ground never turned up. So, they got a fleet of taxis and Alan was in his goalkeeping kit by the time he got to the ground.”